Coping with a Before and an After

The dead walk,but do they make great literature?

Wherever he goes these days, award-winning literary favorite Colson Whitehead, who The Chicago Tribune has labeled "one of the country's finest young writers," is asked some variant on the same question - why write a zombie novel?

"Monsters are just a rhetorical device to talk about people," Whitehead told the audience who gathered at the Politics and Prose bookstore here this afternoon to hear him discuss and read from his new novel Zone One.

The book jacket describes the story this way:

"A pandemic has devastated  the planet. The plague has sorted humanity into two types: the uninfected and the infected, the living and the living dead. Mark Spitz is a member of one of the three-person civilian sweeper units clearing lower Manhattan building by building, block by block. Alternating between haunting flashbacks of Spitz's desperate flight for survival during the worst of  the outbreak and his present narrative, Zone One unfolds over three surreal days in which Spitz is occupied with the mundane mission of straggler removal, the rigors of Post-Apocalyptic Stress Disorder (PASD), and the impossible task of coming to terms with a fallen world. And then things start to go wrong ..."

Now for more on those why-zombie questions. Some come from newspaper, radio, and TV interviewers. Others come from Whitehead's own literary friends. "They say I don't like zombie stories. I don't like zombie movies. So I ask them what zombie stories have you read that you don't like?  And they say I haven't really read any.  And then I ask well, what zombie movies don't you like? And they say, well I haven't seen any."

"I think people are hung up on labels," Whitehead said. "Really, there's just shit you like and shit you don't like."

Recently, zombies have become a growing subculture (Walking Dead, anyone?) embraced by a  burgeoning legion of rabidly devout fans and purists. And how has that subculture taken to Whitehead's high-brow take?. For the most part, reaction has been positive, but there have been some aficionados of  more blood dripping and brain munching who have been somewhat lukewarm. "Some say it's so slow. All he (the main character) does is think. I  guess if you like Cormac McCarthy's The Road maybe you'll like this," Whitehead said with a laugh.

Perhaps, given his early years, the real question for Whitehead is not why a zombie novel now, but rather how come it took you so long to write a horror-plotted novel in the first place. A self-described loner who didn't ever want to go outside and play with other kids, Whitehead says he spent his formative years devouring horror movies and sci-fi  stories. There were innumerable watchings of The Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits, countless comics, and an adoration for the master himself, Stephen King. Whitehead, who says he had extremely permissive parents, got hooked early. He remembers watching A Clockwork Orange when he was about 10 and when he asked what was happening to that (victim of extreme violence) lady, his mother telling him "oh, that's social commentary." And not every family would be comfortable sitting down at a nice restaurant for a family dinner after viewing the latest Night of the Living Dead saga.

Ever since he was a youngster, Whitehead admits to being plagued by "zombie anxiety dreams." In fact, it was one such dream that lead directly to Zone One. On July 4th, 2009, Whitehead had invited a bunch of friends to come stay at his New York home. "They were all downstairs cooking bacon and having a good time and I was upstairs by myself in a bad mood. So I willed myself back to sleep and had a dream where I was in the city, but I wasn't sure they had swept up the zombies. I guess you could say the book came out of a dream and a weekend of despair."

So, in the end, what does Whitehead hope his readers take away from their reading.

"Well, the genre allowed me to write about what's living about the dead and what's dead about the living," Whitehead said. "It's really about surviving a calamity. How do we cope with a before and an after?"

Tales, Tidbits, and Traveling Tips:
If Whitehead, who told me he has always loved joking, were not a first-class writer he would make a fine comedian. I could easily see him in standup or as a featured correspondent on The Daily Show. I can't remember ever howling so hard and literally being in danger of falling off my seat at a book talk before. Whitehead's bits on why be a writer (you don't have to wear clothes and you get to make stuff up) on how he kind of missed the writing point in college (I wore black all the time and I smoked cigarettes, but I didn't bother to write anything), his early years in the publishing world at Village Voice (he opened books submitted to the publication for review), the lack of job possibilities for slender-fingered, thin-wristed individuals like himself (pianist, hand model, surgeon, President of the United States) and his passion for Twitter (140 characters pretty much sums up how much interaction I want to have with people) were truly funny. But his capper came as he dead-panned that his early writing rejections did allow him to truly understand the elusive meaning of the song "McArthur Park." To prove his point, Whitehead produced his I-Pad and played part of the song for the audience, recounting line by line how it described his rejection years. I think he said something about leaving his cake out in the rain and something about never finding the recipe again. But I'm not sure. I was laughing too hard.

Van Gogh Uncovered

When Steven Naifeh and Gregory Smith won the Pulitzer Prize for their biography of the artist Jackson Pollock in 1991, they encountered the inevitable question of what to do next.

Speaking for both authors, Smith said the search for a new subject for an extensive biographical study focused on 3 questions:
1) Is the artist significant enough?
2) Is his or her life interesting enough?
3)  Has such a book been done before?

Smith said both he and his writing partner considered Vincent Van Gogh. And when they found to their suprise that scholars agreed that there was no definitive biography of the troubled Dutch genius, it was "like a little red meat," Smith said.

And so the pair plunged into the massive project.  And the operative word here is massive. Ten years of research and writing. More than 100,000 pages of digitized notes. A book of 976 pages. A website containing 28,000 foot notes.

Tonight, Naifeh and Smith appeared at Politics and Prose to discuss their book Vincent Van Gogh: A Life and the arduous process involved in creating it.

First they divided up the research. While Smith began internalizing the 800 letters that Van Gogh wrote, Naifeh undertook the daunting task of trying to understand Van Gogh's world, his influences, and especially his readings.

"Vincent was a prodigious reader. He would have loved this book store," Naifeh said, adding that Van Gogh had read all the collected works of numerous authors including Shakespeare, Dickens, Balzac, and Zola. And he read in 4 languages -  Dutch, English, French, and German.

But while the readings did give Van Gogh allusions for his work, it also pointed out the depth of his alienation. "He was an outcast to his family. He couldn't keep friends. He would go months without any human contact. He was so lonely that reading filled up his day," Naifeh said.

And alienation and loneliness were not Van Gogh's only problems. He suffered violent seizures from  front lobe epilepsy and would periodically find himself strapped to an instutional bed with no memory of how he got there. He was extremely argumentive, so much so that he would wear a person down with his arguments and, once the person had capitulated, would begin the argument anew, this time from the point of view he had initially oppposed. He was an alcoholic. He cut off his ear. His death,  at age 37, was considered a suicide. (However, new evidence, much of it explored in depth in their book, have led Naifeh and Smith to conclude that Van Gogh was actually the victim of an accidental shooting by a young drunken antagonist).

But of all the facts of Van Gogh's troubled existence the most astounding is this - in his life he sold only 1 painting. In short, the painter today we hold up as an example of artistic genius was an abject failure in his lifetime, abhored by his family, the artistic community, and his entire society. People actually found his work, with its brilliant use of color, scary.

But as the world shifted from the 19th to the 20th Century, Van Gogh became recognized as the true innovator  and art-world-changing genius he is considered today - a tragic man truly way ahead of his times.

"Finally, the whole world came to Vincent's doorstep," Smith said. "We wrote a biography of a man, but we were really writing a biography of an imagination."

Tales, Tidbits, and Traveling Tips:
Obviously, inherent language barriers inhibited the research. After all, Van Gogh was Dutch and Naifeh and Smith were not versed in that language. "At first, we thought it might be like if 2 Croations  who spoke no English showed up the Library of Congress and said they wanted to write the definitive biography of Abraham Lincoln," Naifeh said. However, those fears were unfounded and the Dutch turned out to be tremendously helpful and supportive of the project.  But despite the striving for authenticity, both authors said they would, at least in American book talks, retain the English "Van Go" pronounciation of Van Gogh's name.  In Dutch, the author's name sounds more like Van Hwaarwkkk." "People there say hearing his last name is like hearing a lot of spitting and coughing," Naifeh explained.

Occupy DC

Welcome to McPherson Square

Protest and Baseball: The Great American Pasttimes

Walking back and forth on the raised stone ledge of the plaza, the young 20-something tossed the baseball high into the air and, reaching out, snagged it with his glove hand. "Nation under occupation. Democracy before dinner," he called out, again tossing the baseball. "Nation under occupation. Democracy before dinner."

A well-dressed woman approached and stopped. "Thanks for doing this," she said. "My son is with the group occupying Atlanta and we're with you all the way."

"Thank you," replied the baseball tosser, continuing his corner edge stroll as this hour's unofficial greeter for Occupy DC, a solidarity movement which has joined Occupy Wall Street and other encampments across the country and around the world to focus attention on corporate interests that they claim have co-opted our politics and corrupted our economic system.

Actually, there are 2 simultaneous protesting camps set up here in the nation's capital. Occupy DC is grouped at McPherson Square. A few blocks away, Stop the Machine is continuing its 24-hour around-the-clock protest at Freedom Plaza. 

At first, the movement was dismissed by conservative politicians, right-wing pundits, industrialists, financiers, and denizens of Wall Street as "thugs" "bums" "hippies," and worse. But quickly the conversation shifted as the public seemed far more in sympathy and support of the Occupy movements than it did of the controllers.  Suddenly, the phrase "occupy" was everywhere in the national discussion and the term "the 99 percent and the 1 percent" exploded into the American parlance.

As with any protest, signs are very telling. And even a cursory visit to the sites shows that there is no lack of signs. A sample:

•  I used to have a job, now I have an occupation
• We, the people say human needs, not corporate greed
• I saved 10 years for my home. It cost $24,000 to sell it
• I am not an angry young hippie. I am an angry businessman
• Suma Cum Laud. Unemployed. Still trying. Still hopeful
• Democracy is not a spectator sport

Tales, Tidbits, & Traveling Tips:
We have visited the Occupy sites 3 times and I know we will be going back again and again. As the Buffalo Springfield sang in the 60s "there is something happening here, but what it is ain't exactly clear." And while no one knows how this emerging, enlarging occupy everywhere story will turn out, I believe this is democracy in action.  There is something quite righteous about these sites. I think that as Americans we forget that this country was founded by common people who would not accept the status quo perpetuated by a ruling elite. Sound familiar? Radicals and rebels all. Somewhere the spirits of Thomas Jefferson and Thomas Paine and Patrick Henry are smiling. Their great American vision lives on.

Occupiers share their views with Bridgeton Councilman Bill Spence

A young organizer is interviewed by the international media

This is the communal food kitchen

The medical tent is staffed 24 hours a day

The site even has its own free lending library

How Do We Reclaim the American Dream?

Tom Brokaw says the idea for his new book actually began "the day I became a grandparent."

"I wonder what they (his grandchildren's generation) will say about us in 50 years?" the former living-room fixture and once anchor of NBC nightly news says. When Brokaw's forceful daughter first heard about the idea, she had one mandate: "I don't want some sappy Hallmark card to your grandkids," she informed her father.

So what exactly did Brokaw write. Well, the lengthy, but extremely appropriate for its subject title, The Time of Our Lives: A Conversation About America; Who We Are, Where We've Been, and Where We Need to Go Now, to Recapture the American Dream, pretty much sums it up.

Tonight, Brokaw appeared  at Politics and Prose to discuss his new book and answer questions from the audience.

As he traveled across the country to "take the pulse of America," Brokaw said he found "more anxiety than I've ever encountered."

"This was a fear that struck at the heart of the American Dream," Brokaw said, adding that he hoped his book would "kick start a national conversation" about what to do about the current American mess.

Brokaw says he believes the answer might center around all of us "re-enlisting as American citizens"

He added that the new American Dream should be focused on "the quality of life, not the quantity of life, not just on how many toys we can accumulate."

Brokaw said "education is going to be the currency of the 21st Century" and we must act quickly to fix "our broken education system." Workers are going to need a skills set that allow them to be highly mobile and a mid set that accommodates "moving around to where the jobs are," he said.

Of course, any American renewal plans must take into account the new global economy and a more interconnected world.  "While we've been fighting these 2 wars, China has been going around in civilian clothing, speaking the language making deals with countries," Brokaw said. "I spoke to this young Chinese man in New York who said 'We're coming and you're going,' And that about sums it up if we don't do the right things."

And then there is the huge problem of our current political system."We have an analog political culture in a digital world," Brokaw said. "This is the worst I've ever seen it, worse than the 60s, worse than Watergate. People are retreating to the far corners of the room."

But despite the daunting obstacles, Brokaw is convinced America can be great again. In his concluding remarks he returned to his grandchildren. He said he and his wife are avid outdoor enthusiasts and, as such, took their grandchildren camping as soon as they were old enough.  On their first night, Brokaw said he and his wife heard much whispering in the tent they had pitched for their grandchildren.  Finally, the eldest poked her head out and said "Nan (the nickname for their grandmother) we need an adult in here right now."

"I think the country needs an adult in the room now," Brokaw concluded.

Tales, Tidbits, and Traveling Tips:
Given Brokaw's popularity accrued from his long career in broadcasting , his more recent success as a best-selling author, his engaging personality, the sincerity of his concerns, and the depth of his ideas, the question was not surprising. One woman asked - have you ever thought about running for office? "I thought about running for the border, but no never about running for office," Brokaw said with a grin.

Controvery in Kearney Caught on Film

What place, if any, do personal religious beliefs have in the American public school classroom? How much academic freedom should teachers really have? What do you do if you feel your rights as a humanistic student are being jeopardized by an evangelical  teacher? Man from monkey or man from God?

These are just some of the emotionally-charged questions explored in the provocative new documentary In God We Teach, which received its DC premiere tonight before a packed house at The Newseum as part of the ongoing Religious Freedom Education Project.

A basic synopsis of the story goes like this: Matthew LaClair, then a senior student at Kearney (NJ) High School, was offended by religious remarks made by popular history teacher and crew coach Dave Paskiewicz. LaClair taped the remarks. When school officials refused to act, LaClair and his family went public. The story was widely reported in the local and national news, even prompting a segment  by Anderson Cooper on CNN. The issue divided the town, with most residents and students taking Paskiewicz's side. LaClair was ostracized and even received death threats. Finally, after months of controversy, the CYA School Board issue a commendation to LeClair, who is now a college sophomore, for his stand. Paskieiwicz was allowed to continuing teaching.

Following the showing, the director Vic Losick, himself a native of New Jersey, took the floor to discuss the film and take questions from the audience. He was joined by Political Science Professor Emile Lester, the author of the book Teaching about Religion in Public Schools and Charles Haynes, senior scholar at the Freedom Forum First Amendment Center and director of the Newseum's Religious Freedom Education Project.

Losick, acknowledging that religion is a highly divisive issue, said the 1st Amendment clearly specifies students should "be taught about religion, not taught religion" and his film was an attempt to examine what happens when that clear Constitutional line is crossed.

When asked what he thought about the antagonists, Losick responded that as a documentary filmmaker you "try not to think anything" and just capture the story. He did admit that over the months of the filming, despite their very distinct  differences, he did become "very fond of (both of) them and their families."

Losick said that the prolonged, stormy controversy did not make Kearney a more tolerant community. "It had no effect," he said. As proof, as least as far as the antagonists were concerned, he cited the films' final scenes which show LaClair  attacking Paskiewicz, on a college radio show for a new Constitutional violation and the teacher taking a group of students to a Christian Museum of Creation, which credits intelligent design, not evolution, as the basis for mankind's origin and places dinosaurs with Noah and his ark.

Lester credited Losick for examining the controversial issue with sympathy, not satire and sarcasm.

"Public schools should be concerned with teaching rather  than preaching," Lester said. "But you have to recognize the role that religion has played in American history and continues to play today."

Lester said that any teaching of religion should foster tolerance of all faiths, not the predominance of only one. "Tolerance requires virtue but also imagination for those who we disagree with,." Lester said.

Tales, Tidbits, and Traveling Tips:
Employing good-natured humor can often be a wise approach to introducing troubling or controversial material. Professor Lester began his remarks with this: "I am reminded of the Woody Allen quote. 'I believe their is an intelligence to the Universe with the exception of certain parts of New Jersey.' I'm from New York so it's my God-given right to make fun of New Jersey." Losick, for his part, jokingly channeled the tough-guide attitude promulgated by Sopranos mob moss Tony Soprano and the cast of Jersey Shore retorted "Yes I am from New Jersey. You got a problem wit dat."

Day of the Living (and the Dead)

Day of the Dead: Don't Fear the Reaper, Celebrate the Soul

The old man propped himself up on the bed, squinting in the direction of the younger man adjusting the curtains to let the first light of morning enter the room.  "Why have you come so early?" the old man asked.  He reached for the pair of glasses on his nightstand. "Old eyes just don't see as well," he explained..

The younger man began straightening up the room. "I would have cleaned up if I had known you were coming," the old man said.

Quietly, the younger man left the room, entered the kitchen, and began preparing a hot drink on the stove. "I remember when you used to make this for me, you, and Mama," the old man said.

"Some things you never forget," the younger man replied. "Papa, you should answer the phone when it rings. And take care of your self."

"I always do, Salvador" the father answered.

The phone rang. The father picked it up. "Dead? ... Salvador? ... That cannot be; he is standing right here with me ..."

The camera slowly panned the room. No one was there. Cue closing credits.

And so went the simple, yet poignant plot of "The Visit," 1 of 5 short Mexican films about the strong family connections among family, the living, and the dead shown today at the National Geographic Museum to herald the annual Spanish Day of the Dead celebrations.

Also on display was a detailed explanation of the history behind the event, as well as an example of an ofrenda, which are private altars containing the favorite foods and beverages as well as photos and memorabilia of the departed that are displayed to encourage visits by the souls of dead family members.,

Tales, Tidbits, and Traveling Tips:
A recognition of the Day of the Dead wouldn't be complete without a sampling of Mexican cuisine. The finest Mexican food in DC can be found at Oyamel, operated by famed  local chef Jose Andres. But the establishment is expensive for lunch. So we opted for a 1st visit ever to the Chevys chain restaurant in Pentagon City. I highly recommend the chicken corn tortilla soup. Judy gave big props to the homemade nachos and rich, red salsa.

DC & Prohibition: How Dry It Wasn't

If you ever wondered why Prohibition, which writer H. L. Menken dubbed "the 13 awful years," failed so miserably here in the United States, you need only look at life during that era in DC.

There was an unofficial bootlegger who had an office in the House of Representatives building. That same enterprising bootlegger later expanded his operation into his own office in the Senate. 

When the the 18th Amendment became law in 1920, there were 247 licensed bars in Washington. In 1932, one year before the 21st Amendment repealed Prohibition, records show that authorities raided 1,155 locations in the district where on-premise alcohol was found. At another 600 speakeasies, owners, tipped off by corrupt officials, were able to dispose of their illegal contraband before the raids. In fact, it is estimated that more than 3,000 speakeasies of all sizes and types operated in DC during the Prohibition era.

"People felt Prohibition was for someone else to obey, but not for me," says Garret Peck, author of Prohibition in Washington D.C: How Dry We Weren't.

As part of the Books and Beyond series, Peck appeared at the Library of Congress today to discuss the history of Prohibition and his new book.

The attempt to prohibit the sale and consumption of alcohol was the result of decades of intense lobbying by the Temperance movement, which featured such groups as the Women's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) and the Anti-Saloon League.

"Temperance was the social movement of the time," Peck said. "They (the supporters) believed if we dry up the country, we'll be a more God-fearing nation."  

But quickly it became apparent that the law was doomed to fail. Alcohol consumption continued, and, in many cases, especially women influenced by "the 1st sexual revolution," actually increased. "Suddenly disobeying the law became glamorous," Peck said.

The author noted that Washington D.C. was not plagued by organized crime related to the bathtub gin trade like cities such as Chicago and New York."Here it was a scene dominated by amateurs," Peck explained.

Eventually the combination of lawlessness and economic hardship caused by the Great Depression led to repeal. But, Peck noted, evidence of  those 13 years still exists.  For example, the national income tax was instituted during that time to substitute for the substantial loss of federal tax on alcohol. Words coined such as scofflaw (which literally means one who scoffs at the law) are still part of our lexicon. And then there is NASCAR, which actually began with races between drivers of souped-up cars especially equipped to rush alcohol past government agents trying in vain to enforce the Volstead Act.

Tales, Tidbits, and Traveling Tips:
Prohibition is currently in vogue.  There is the HBO series Boardwalk Empire. There is the recent 3-part Ken Burns PBS documentary on the subject that is now available on DVD. And, for those who would like a more active look at Washington's illegal drinking past, Peck offers a special walking tour of DC's Prohibition years.

Definitely Not a Drag: And a Gay Time Was Had by All

Skating DC fairies under the cover of October skies.

Standing in the 15-deep Dupont Circle crowd at the Q Street corner, waiting for the much-anticipated street race to start, I felt a bump on my shoulder. Turning, I encountered the 1st of a half-dozen fairies roller blading past me, wings on their backs, pastel antennae or crowns sprouting from their flowing hair, vibrant tutus fluttering in the night wind, their sequined tops shining under the light of the street lamps, heavy makeup and glitter covering bearded faces.  Ah, such are the sights on the Tuesday before Halloween when the nation's capital hosts its annual Drag Queen Race.

Although the race doesn't start until 9 p.m., crowds of thousands begin arriving as early as 6 to view the site of almost 100 drag queens in every type of costume sashaying and prancing up and down a blocked-off 17th Street again and again. Many of the crowd pour out into the street to get their picture taken with the obliging queens, while others simply hoot, holler, and applaud..

Some of the enthusiastic racers, who obviously work long and hard on their creative costumes,  enter as a themed group. For example, on this night, the 25th running of the annual race, there were The Queen of England and her retinue including relatives and fur-hatted strutting guards calling "God save the Queens"; a high-haired Marie Antoinette and her "let them eat cake" court; a group of blue uniformed Pan Am stewardesses pushing their coffee, tea, or me cart; and a pack of multi-hued Super Blow Pops, grandly announcing that "this is what happens when you suck too hard."

There were pairs. Alice in Wonderland and her off-with-their-head queen. A starkly phallic Washington Monument accompanied by a short-shorts wearing National Park Ranger. Several takeoffs on black and white, on-their-toes, ballet swans were also in vogue. .

Individual gay-supporting icons were in abundance. Lady Gaga. Dorothy of Wizard of Oz fame. A blue-body-painted Smurfette. Some of the contestants pushed the bounds of taste. Like the hairy-legged Marilyn Monroe look-a-like who pulled her skirt up and wiggled provocatively. Or a white-robed zombie Jesus fronted by a black-clad, particularly slutty Mary Magdalene. Other contestants blew that good taste line away faster than the whirling winds of the twister that plunged Dorothy into gay lore. How about a pink-pillbox-hat-wearing, bloodied Jackie Kennedy clone with the sign "I had a blast in Dallas" taped to his/her back? Or a group of muscular, off-the-shoulder tops and tight leggings wearing Flashdance workout queens performing all types of simulated sex acts with their hand weights and small barbells?

But it wasn't just a night of sight, but of sounds as well. Both the contestants and the crowd had great fun with an ongoing double entrendre, sexually charged repartee. When a group of In-the-Navy style guards pushing a small float of scantilly-clad mermaids streamed by, one young woman hollered "stay dry." A float-pusher responded "No sweetie, stay wet, always stay very, very wet."

And then there was the huge, red-gowned queen with a high mountain of teased hair (think John Water's Divine on steroids) who approached with a toilet bowl scrubber in hand. She was part of a clever group calling attention to the recent spate of exploding GSA toilets here in Washington. As she waved her dildo-impersonating scrubber directly in front of us, a young girl next to me leaned back, almost cringing with concern. "Oh c'mon sweetie," the contestant said with a wide smile. "You have nothing to worry about from me."

"Him, on the other hand," she cooed, suggestively twirling her toy inches from my face. "Now, that's another matter."

As for the race itself, I'm not sure who won. I know whoever it was, did get a glass slipper filled with champagne for his effort. But on this night, it was far more important that everyone, not just one winner, got filled with a great gay time.

 

Tales, Tidbits, and Traveling Tips:

A great glamor shot: Priceless

Anyone familiar with us Price men knows we are not afraid to explore our feminine side. My 2-year-old grandson Owen recently went through a phase where he seemed all too willing to let his older sister Audrey dress him in her princess dresses. And his father (and my son Michael) once entered an 8th-grade talent contest as Dolly Parton and followed that up with a high-school cross-dressing day Halloween as a South Jersey hooker. And I have been known to test what its like as a teacher on the other side of the gender line. (See captivating glamor photo at left). Who knows? Maybe, with a little training, I might even enter the DC drag race next year.

Saved by an Angel or Saved By Science?

What do a male American astronaut who set a record for time spent on the Russian Mir space station, a female deep sea blue hole diver, and the last 9/11 survivor to escape from the South Tower of the World Trade Center alive have in common?

If you answered that all 3 exhibited the human knack of facing deprivation and possible death with an unseen presence pointing the path to survival you would be right. Of course, such tales create another huge question - should that survival be attributed to divine intervention (possibly in the form of a guardian angel) or is it proof of yet another of the brain's amazing powers.

Today, The National Geographic Museum showcased a 2011 documentary The Angel Effect which explored reports of survivors who have reported being guided to safety by a mysterious presence.

The documentary was based on the book The Third Man Factor, written  John Geiger, editor of The Toronto Globe and Mail and the youngest head of the Canadian Geographic Society in its history.

After the screening, the audience was able to direct questions to Geiger through a phone conference.
Geiger said he first became intrigued with the idea of mysterious intervention after reading such accounts by famed early 20th Century Antarctic explorer Sir Lynn Shackleford, as well as a personal minor example of the phenomenon he experienced during one of his own Arctic expeditions.

One of the central stories in both the book and the film was that of 9/11 survivor Ron DiFrancesco. DiFrancesco says that a calming voice guided him through stairwell flames and lethal debris to safety 84 floors before.

But where does such a voice come from? Although both the book and film grapple with that issue and outline the ongoing efforts of scientists to resolve it, the true answer remains elusive. Those who favor the scientific theory speculate that somehow in times of great stress the right brain may assume dominance over the left side, allowing us to use normally untapped powers which let us to survive. For the more religious, like DiFrancesco, who only truly realized he had survived the 9/11 tragedy after awakening from 3 days in a coma-like state, putting faith in the miracles of God is sufficient.

But,  after all his years of research, where does Geiger stand?

"Like adrenaline, I believe it is part of our equipment as human beings to do extraordinary things," Geiger said. "But that doesn't mean God didn't put the mechanism in our brain in the first place."

Tales, Tidbits, and Traveling Tips:
If you find yourself in DC on a Tuesday with free time between noon and 1, The National Geographic offers a free film (and often post film discussion) every Tuesday. Upcoming features include a series of Dia de Muertos films and Mysterious Science: The Truth Behind Bigfoot.

John Brown: Martyr or Madman?

In many respects, you could call John Brown's aborted 1859 raid at Harper's Ferry, an event which helped catapult both North and South toward a bloody Civil War, the 9/11 of its time.

"Nothing like that had ever happened before in America," Pulitzer prize-winning author Tony Horwitz says. "Brown wanted to shock this nation with the sin of slavery and bring on this great war."

Horowitz appeared tonight at the Politics and Prose bookstore to read from and discuss his latest book Midnight Rising: The Story of John Brown and the Raid that Sparked the Civil War.

Horwitz says that Brown could be compared to the monomaniacal Captain Ahab in Herman Melville's classic American novel single-focus obsession Moby Dick.

"It's impossible not to be whip-sawed by this guy," Horwitz said. "He was a remarkable man for his era who believed he had a moral imperative to end slavery.  But he was also a terrorist who okayed horrific violence."

"Brown's story is a classic study of (the question) does the end ever justify the means?" he added. 

Tales, Tidbits, and Traveling Tips:
This is not Horwitz's first look at Civil War topics. His most noted work is Confederates in the Attic: Dispatches from the Unfinished Civil War , which explores the world of hardcore southern Civil War reenactors. 

Mr. President: You've Got Mail

Every evening, when President Barack Obama gets his massive daily briefing book, tucked inside is a purple folder containing 10 letters written by regular American citizens. Given the bleak  economic times, many of the letters detail sad tales of personal hardships and woe. Some are congratulatory; some critical. Obama scours each one, sometimes turning to his wife Michelle to read a particularly poignant or powerful passage.

"He says reading those letter helps keep him connected and sane," Washington Post writer Eli Saslow told a crowd gathered at The Newseum today to hear Saslow talk about his new book 10 Letters: The Stories Americans Tell Their President.

Saslow said the process of culling the 10 letters daily is a quite involved, a task that has become even more involved in these days of Anthrax and other scares. "Essentially, it requires an army," he explained.

Obama receives almost 20,000 pieces of personal correspondence daily. Fifty staffers and 1,500 volunteers sort through the missives, narrowing them into 75 pre-chosen categories. From those groups, 10 letters representative of that day's concerns are then placed in the purple folder for Obama to read.

Saslow, who has been covering Obama since 2008, says the president definitely reads all the letters and responds back to most of them, even those critical of his job performance. "Now if you begin Dear Socialist Jackass you probably aren't going to get a response. But he has written really detailed letters back to some who questioned him," Saslow said.

For his book, which received endorsement from both Obama's administration and the President himself, Saslow said he chose 10 people whose letters indicated "action still to come."  He then spent at least a week with each of them so he could tell the story of their letters and their lives.

Like the letters themselves, some of the 10 stories are uplifting ... like the tale of a black Philadelphia teenager who was so inspired by Obama's ascent to the presidency that he turned his life around, won the top class office in his high school, and now is a sophomore in college. However others reflected "the relentlessly brutal deluge of heartbreak" that drove so many to reach out to the President. One such story concerned a Michigan woman who lost her job, saw her husband lose his job, had their health care cancelled, learned that she was pregnant with her second child, and then was diagnosed with cancer. In one of the book's revelations, the only way the beleaguered couple could keep going was to make their first trip ever to New York City, find a collector, and sell the President's letter for $10,000.

Responding to a question from the audience, Saslow said that all the 1st 10 people he asked agreed to be part of the book. "They were unbelievably honest and candid," Saslow said. "They wanted to believe somebody is still listening, their problems are important, and their lives do count."

Tales, Tidbits, and Traveling Tips:
If you do go to The Newseum, make sure you make at least 1 trip to the bathroom.  There you will find selected real errors and goofs in headlines and stories guaranteed to make you chuckle.

Dead Presidents: Do They Still Walk Among Us?

Does Lincoln still haunt The White House?

What better way to kick off the Halloween season than to take a night-time, October moonlit walking tour of Washington D.C.'s most haunted places.

Now, for the sake of full disclosure, we did not see ghost nor spirit one. In fact, when it comes to horror watching any Republican presidential debate is far more terrifying. But we did learn a lot of history and we were entertained by many tales of supposed historical haunts and haunters.

The 2-hour journey began at The Octagon House (an 8-sided 18th Century home that served as temporary living quarters for President James Madison and his wife Dolley after the British burned the White House during the War of 1812) and concluded in front of the White House.  Here a point of supernatural interest: Dolley has been seen still hosting parties at The Octagon and her spirit supposedly stopped workmen from tearing up the Rose Garden during Woodrow Wilson's presidency.

Other sites included the former homes of Henry Rathbone, Stephen Decatur, and Henry Adams.

At the White House, our animated guide related several tales of supposed sightings. Many involved Abraham Lincoln, who has supposedly been seen by everyone from domestic workers to heads of state. My favorite involved a tale of a Secret Service agent, who had been assigned to President Kennedy's detail prior to his assassination in Dallas. Sometime later, on duty at the White House, the agent observed a man running toward the home. The man ignored repeated calls to stop and so the agent fired 4 shots. The man turned, revealing himself as the dead president, smiled, and vanished.

Tales, Tidbits, & Traveling Tips:
No night of the supernatural in DC would be complete without the strange tale of the Indian Chief Tecumseh's curse and the Presidential Circle of Death. To read all about it, click here.

Othello: The Green-Eyed Monster Goes Silent

Not 1, but 3 Iagos

As a rock n' roll keyboardist since 1966, I've practiced in a lot of basements in the past 45 years. However, until we moved to the DC area this summer, I had never witnessed the performance of a world class theater group in my basement.

Technically, I suppose, you could argue that the award-winning Synetic Theater is really in the Crystal City underground, not our basement.  But since all we have to do to see a show is head down 8 floors of our apartment complex on the elevator, walk through the below-ground connecting corridor of our complex to the Crystal City underground mall, continue 3 blocks underground to the theater, and enter the underground lobby, I am going to maintain that I can say it's my basement theater.

Tonight, we saw Synetic's version of Othello, the 2nd in the company's 3-part series Speak No More: The Silent Shakespeare Festival.

As I have explained earlier in this blog, Synetic, recognized as the nation's premier physical theater company, performs without words, instead relying on movement, music, mime, and visuals to convey both story line and emotional impact.

As for Othello itself, Judy said she enjoyed  Macbeth more. While I agree that Macbeth may have been more impactful overall, I think Othello is far more difficult to perform without words, and, therefore, I give great credit to the company for tackling that more challenging production so well.

For any of my former AP English students reading this, my favorite scene was Synetic's interpretation of the big black ram tupping the lovely white ewe. And the production featured not 1, but 3, characters portraying aspects of villainous Iago's twisted psyche. For power, it would be hard to top the final scene, with a dead Desdemona suspended high above a stage filled with bloody carnage.

Tales, Tidbits, and Traveling Tips:
If you're going to be in the DC area, Othello will be performed until Nov. 6. Romeo and Juliet, the final production in the festival, will run from Nov. 25 until Dec. 23.

Fest for a Great King

The Obama and King families tour the MLK Memorial site

In the last year year of his life, the Rev. Martin Luther King spent much of his time planning for a massive march and occupation of Washington D. C. to focus attention on the problems of poverty

On the last day of his life, Dr. King was in Memphis, Tennessee joining garbage men in their struggle for higher wages and better working conditions.

And today, on a beautiful October Sunday, more than 30,000 people joined President Barack Obama to dedicate the new national Memorial to Dr. King and hear clarion calls for a re-dedication to action to turn King's dreams of social and economic justice into reality.

"Today, people bring up the brand of my father and forget the beliefs of my father," said Martin Luther King III.

One of Rev. King's daughters, Bernice, tied the dedication to the Occupy DC protests occurring just blocks from the Memorial site, calling for "a radical revolution of values and reordering of priorities in the nation.".

"As we dedicate this monument, I can hear my father saying that oppressed people cannot remain oppressed forever," she said. "The yearning for freedom eventually manifests itself ... I hear my father saying what we are seeing now, all across the streets of America and the world, is a freedom explosion."

Obama: Keep poushing for the King dream

In his remarks, President Obama also issued a call for continued commitment to the values and ideals espoused by Dr. King.

"Nearly 50 years after the March on Washington, our work -- Dr. King's work -- is not yet complete," President Obama said.""Let us not be trapped by what is. We can't be discouraged by what is. We've got to keep pushing for what ought to be. I know we will overcome. I know there are better days ahead. I know this because of the man towering over us."

The Memorial site features a 30-foot statue of Dr. King gazing out over the Tidal Basin. Julian Bond, who as a young man marched side by side with Dr. King, noted that despite his huge accomplishments, the 5'7'' King was always sensitive to his physical stature. "And now he is 30 feet tall," Bond, pointing to the statue, noted.

Next to the wildly enthusiastic greetings for President Obama, some of the day's loudest vocal response came for the remarks delivered by Rev. Al Sharpton, who said the King Memoiral will stand as "a marker for justice today."

One day earlier, Sharpton had led a DC  march for jobs and justice, an action that put him in direct alignment with the Occupy DC group. "We're going to occupy the voting booth. We're going to take in those who stand for justice and retire those who stand in the way" Sharpton said to the clamoring crowd. "This (election) is not about Obama; this is about our Moma."

Tales, Tidbits & Traveling Tips:
While most of the tributes to Dr. King and his legacy took the form of the spoken word (including a magnificent poem written especially for the occasion and delivered by poet Nikki Giovanni) music was also part of the message. Aretha Franklin sang "Take My Hand, Precious Lord," a hymn she said Dr. King often requested.  Stevie Wonder led the crowd in a rousing rendition of his song "Happy Birthday," written to commemorate the Martin Luther King holiday.  Wonder also headlined a celebratory 2-hour concert that also featured James Taylor, Sheryl Crow, and Ladice and concluded the 6-and-a-half hour day of celebration.

Stevie Wonder and social activist/comic Dick Gregory

Sheryl Crow

James Taylor

Wonder and Crow duet on Dylan's Blowing in the Wind

A fitting finale: Love Train

Baseball by the Book

With the Phillies eliminated from the MLB playoffs, we headed to the National Portrait Gallery tonight to get our baseball fix by attending a book talk on Baseball Americana:Treasures from the Library of Congress.

For almost an hour, Susan Reyburn, a writer and editor with the Library of Congress, and Frank Ceresi, a DC area baseball historian and memorabilia appraiser, showed and discussed computer pictures of artifacts they culled for the book from the library's massive holdings, which is the largest collection of baseball items this side of Cooperstown.

The pair said they used all areas of the Library, but much of the focus centered on the manuscript, performing arts, motion picture, prints and photography, and,or course, baseball card collections.

Of the more than 350 images included, Reyborn said her favorite is a 1786 letter from a Princeton University student which contains the 1st reference to baseball ever in American writing. (Guess that definitely shoots down the myth that Abner Doubleday invented America's pastime).

Ceresi said his favorite was a picture of an aging Babe Ruth leaning on a bat borrowed from Cleveland Indian pitcher and Hall of Famer Bob Feller.  In later years, Ceresi said he and Feller became friends and on one visit, the pitcher had shown him that very bat.

Responding to a question from the audience, Ceresi said that despite the depth of the Library's collection, it does not contain the item most baseball collectors agree is the most valuable item today - a rare Honus Wagner card.  Ceresi said that hockey great Wayne Gretsky once bought 1 of the cards for $400,000.  Recently that same card was resold for $2.8 million.

Traveler's Tip:
If you would like a more hands-on experience than reading the book, Reyburn says you can see the actual items pictured by visiting the Library of Congress, obtaining a library card, and then requesting to examine the baseball-related items by name. "Our director says it's time to get the champagne out of the bottle," Reyburn said. As for a full baseball memorabilia exhibition, Reyburn said that there have been talks, but the actual outcome will depend on funding.

Hope Gets Unearthed

A rescued miner prays in thanks for his miracle

It's a primal fear - being buried alive. It's been the subject of horror masters from Edgar Allan Poe to Stephen King.  And sometimes it happens in real life, as it almost did this time last year to 33 Chilean miners. But, in that case, the real-life horror story had a happy ending - an ending which is the focal point of an exhibit now at the Smithsonian Museum of National History.

Entitled Against All Odds: Rescue at a Chilean Mine, the exhibit details the dramatic, world-watched 69 days from the unexpected cave-in which trapped 33 miners to their safe October 13th return to the surface.

The Fenix

The exhibit highlights include the red, white, and blue rescue vehicle nicknamed Fenix (Spanish for the legendary creature of rising and rebirth the Phoenix), a copy of the bit used to drill the narrow escape passageway, models of thin pipes (called palomas) which were used to drop food and medical supplies to the miners, and the actual clothing some of them wore, as well as video clips and enlarged photos from the ordeal.

The exhibit is wrapped by a timeline in both English and Spanish, creating a significant incident by incident account of the harrowing adventure. For example, it is pointed out that those on the surface limited the miners to a 2,500 calories-a-day diet so they could remain thin enough to fit in the Fenix with its tiny 21-inch diameter.

For their part, the miners remained hopeful, but prepared for the worst. "I waited for death, but was tranquil," says Mario Sepulvedo. "I knew that at any minute the lights could go out, but it would be a dignified death."

But fortunately it was rescue, not death that came for Sepulvedo and his 32 fellow workers. It truly was, as President Barack Obama says, an example that "there's nothing we can't accomplish together."

You know, the Museum of National History is not that far from The Capitol Building. Maybe all our Democratic and Republican legislators should meet at the red, white and blue (the colors of the Chilean flag) Fenix and figure out exactly how to get our economy and our trapped American populace to rise once again.  If nothing else, the visit would remind them that you don't have to live in the doomed, damned world of Poe. Miracles can, and do happen.

Travelers' Tip:
If you would like to see this small, but powerful exhibition you do have some time. The exhibition, which debuted on August 5th, a year to the day that the miners became trapped, will remain open until May of next year.